{"id":31014,"date":"2022-02-02T01:00:48","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T09:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?p=31014"},"modified":"2022-02-01T20:29:18","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T04:29:18","slug":"the-song-of-the-groundhog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2022\/02\/the-song-of-the-groundhog.html","title":{"rendered":"The Song of the Groundhog"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/81\/2022\/02\/woodchuck.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-31017\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/81\/2022\/02\/woodchuck-242x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"342\" height=\"400\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Celebrate this unlikely oracle,<br>\nthis ball of fat and fur,<br>\nwhom we so mysteriously endow<br>\nwith the power to predict spring.<br>\nLet\u2019s hear it for the improbable heroes who,<br>\nfrightened at their own shadows,<br>\nnonetheless unwittingly work miracles.<br>\nWhy shouldn\u2019t we believe<br>\nthis peculiar rodent holds power<br>\nover sun and seasons in his stubby paw?<br>\nWho says that God is all grandeur and glory?<\/p>\n<p>Unnoticed in the earth, worms<br>\nare busily, brainlessly, tilling the soil.<br>\nField mice, all unthinking, have scattered<br>\nseeds that will take root and grow.<br>\nGrape hyacinths, against all reason,<br>\nhave been holding up green shoots beneath the snow.<br>\nHow do you think spring arrives?<br>\nThere is nothing quieter, nothing<br>\nmore secret, miraculous, mundane.<br>\nDo you want to play your part<br>\nin bringing it to birth? Nothing simpler.<br>\nFind a spot not too far from the ground<br>\nand wait.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lynnungar.com\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Lynn Ungar<\/a>,\u00a0<em>Blessing the Bread<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Celebrate this unlikely oracle, this ball of fat and fur, whom we so mysteriously endow with the power to predict spring. Let\u2019s hear it for the improbable heroes who, frightened at their own shadows, nonetheless unwittingly work miracles. Why shouldn\u2019t we believe this peculiar rodent holds power over sun and seasons in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Song of the Groundhog Lynn Ungar&#039;s Groundhog Day<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Celebrate this unlikely oracle, this ball of fat and fur, whom we so mysteriously endow with the power to predict spring. Let\u2019s hear Celebrate this unlikely oracle,this ball of fat and fur,whom we so mysteriously endowwith the power to predict spring.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2022\/02\/the-song-of-the-groundhog.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Song of the Groundhog Lynn Ungar&#039;s Groundhog Day\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Celebrate this unlikely oracle, this ball of fat and fur, whom we so mysteriously endow with the power to predict spring. Let\u2019s hear Celebrate this unlikely oracle,this ball of fat and fur,whom we so mysteriously endowwith the power to predict spring.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2022\/02\/the-song-of-the-groundhog.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Monkey Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-02T09:00:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-02T04:29:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/81\/2022\/02\/woodchuck-242x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2022\/02\/the-song-of-the-groundhog.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2022\/02\/the-song-of-the-groundhog.html\",\"name\":\"The Song of the Groundhog Lynn Ungar's Groundhog Day\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-02T09:00:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-02T04:29:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\"},\"description\":\"&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Celebrate this unlikely oracle, this ball of fat and fur, whom we so mysteriously endow with the power to predict spring. 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